


The Devouring Sun

by onthewingsofwar



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Dirk has wings, Emotional Constipation, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 15:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14718719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onthewingsofwar/pseuds/onthewingsofwar
Summary: Dirk's always kept his wings hidden. Or at least, he has ever since the first time Blackwing captured him. And nothing's going to change that. Not even a gunshot wound.





	The Devouring Sun

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a tumblr post (that I can't find rn) about Dirk being called Icarus because he had wings.
> 
> My artist was the lovely [marizetta](marizetta.tumblr.com), who you all should definitely follow on tumblr!

Dirk let himself into Todd’s apartment with a loud groan. He was grateful that they had had their first official case as an agency so soon after opening, and it was nice that their client had wanted to thank him personally. But,  _ god _ , could he talk. Todd had managed to escape with their “payment” over an hour ago.

“Hey, Dirk or random murderer who just let himself into my apartment. Want to get dinner?”

Dirk shuffled across the room to lean on the kitchen doorway. “What do you have?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure there’s some expired takeout in the fridge. Or,” he made a great show of opening the cabinets, “we have about four hundred containers of cashews.”

Dirk groaned again. “I never want to see another cashew in my  _ life _ . I’m taking a nap. Wake me up when pizza arrives.”

 

* * *

 

“Dirk.”

“I’m awake!” He launched himself into a sitting position, wings flaring into existence with a clatter. He was confused for a moment at the lack of orders, lack of pain, and then it slowly started coming back together. He was no longer in Blackwing. He was safe. The voice that woke him up was Todd’s, not a horrible alarm or a scientist.

Todd.

Todd was here, and his wings were –

The thought of his wings brought a rush of pain. His right wing crumpled inward like a puppet with cut strings.

Dirk screwed his eyes shut. Todd was seeing his wings, and the pain was dizzying, and he almost wished that he’d never escaped Blackwing so that he wouldn’t be in this position.

“Dirk, what…? You have–?”

Dirk clenched his jaw, trying to bring his wings in close enough to fold them away. His right wing protested the slightest twitch, and he couldn’t stop the whimper from escaping his throat.

“Oh, shit, you’re hurt.” Todd scrambled onto the bed beside him, hands reaching out towards the injury.

“Don’t!” Dirk jerked away from him, ignoring the way his wing felt like it was being torn off at the motion. His heart pounded, and he clenched his fists in the blanket to hide their trembling.

“Dirk.” He didn’t recognize that tone of voice. He was tempted to look up, but he couldn’t risk it. Couldn’t risk seeing the disgust on Todd’s face.

“Please, just go.”

Todd hesitated for a moment, arm still outstretched, and then silently withdrew it and left. Dirk let out a shaky breath, gut twisting. He was half tempted to call Todd back, but he stayed silent. He wasn’t sure if he felt relief or disappointment that Todd had listened. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to feel.

 

* * *

 

He woke several hours later with his right wing throbbing slightly less. Maybe letting it stretch out had helped. Not that Dirk would be voluntarily letting them out again any time soon.

“No, you don’t,” a voice said the second he started to draw the extra appendages into his body. Dirk suddenly realized that there was a weight on the bed beside him and opened his eyes. Todd was staring down at him with determination. “I know you don’t want me to touch your–” a slight hesitation “–wings. But there’s no way I’m letting you die of some dumb infection after all the shit we went through trying to get you out of Blackwing and then saving Wendimoor.”

“Uhh.”

Todd rolled his eyes and started laying out supplies. “Now, I obviously couldn’t find anything about first aid for people with wings, so I’m just gonna go with bird first aid and hope that works.” He reached out to touch the wing and stopped with his hands hovering a hair’s breadth away. He glanced down at Dirk with barely concealed concern. “Tell me if anything hurts, okay?”

Dirk nodded, not trusting himself to speak around whatever emotion was clawing at his throat.

Todd nodded sharply back and got to work. It stung a little as he was cleaning the wound but nowhere near the worst pain that he’d ever felt. It also helped that Todd’s free hand was absently carding through his underwing coverts, smoothing out any ruffled feathers.

Todd breathed a sigh of relief after a few minutes. “I’ve gotten all the dried blood cleaned off, and it doesn’t look infected.”

Dirk hummed. “That’s good.”

“Dirk. This looks an awful lot like a gunshot wound.”

“Really? That’s odd. I have no idea–”

Todd shifted backwards so that he could look Dirk in the eye. His voice was low and terrifyingly calm when he said, “Dirk, I know you haven’t been shot at while I’m around, and we’ve barely been apart for more than five minutes this week. That means that you’ve either been sneaking out at night to be shot at, or you’ve been hiding this injury for a week now. So, which is it?”

“Oh, well–”

“Dirk.”

“Ok, fine. Ken actually shot me twice when I was breaking Moloch out of Blackwing, and–” He yelped as Todd hit him on the chest. “Hey, that hurt!”

“You should be grateful that you’re injured right now, or I would be killing you.”

Dirk bit his tongue, eyes shifting over to study the dog shaped watermark on the ceiling. “I’m sorry. I know you don’t like me lying to you.”

Todd sighed. “Dirk, look at me.”

Dirk reluctantly dragged his eyes back, and Todd surprisingly didn’t look angry. More… sad, really.

“I’m not mad. Ok, I’m a little mad. But not that you lied. I’m upset that you would keep the fact that you were hurt a secret. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Dirk’s eyes roamed across the room until they landed on another watermark. This one looked like a horse. “I don’t know,” he replied, voice barely louder than a whisper. His hands twisted the hem of his shirt. “I guess I was just… worried. That you would think I was a freak and wouldn’t want to be my friend anymore.”

A gentle hand found his cheek, turning him back to face Todd. The look in his eyes was so soft that something inside Dirk  _ ached _ . “Dirk,” his voice was just as soft, and Dirk’s heart clenched, “it might not be normal, but neither are energy sucking vampires, or soul swapping, or holistic assassins and detectives, or literally anything that happened in Wendimoor. Listen, Dirk, I lo–” He stopped abruptly, eyes wide and cheeks flushed. His hand drew back, and Dirk immediately missed the warmth.

“Look,” Todd said after clearing his throat. “You’re my best friend. Having wings doesn’t change that. Hell,” his lips twisted up in a wry smile, “you could secretly be able to turn into the purple people eater and that wouldn’t be enough to scare me away at this point.”

Dirk felt breathless in the best way, light and airy, and a part of him wondered if this was what flying felt like. His grin probably looked ridiculous, but he couldn’t contain it. “Well, if we’re getting secrets out of the way…”

This slap was gentler and joined by a chuckle that warmed Dirk’s entire body.

 

* * *

 

Dirk scowled at his jacket. “Do you have a very large blanket I could borrow?”

Todd gave him a bemused look. “You need a giant blanket because…?”

“Well my jacket won’t fit over  _ these _ ,” he shrugged his wings and then winced because, oh right,  _ gunshot wound _ , “and I can’t really walk through the halls with wings on full display.”

“Wait.” Todd frowned. “Where are you going?”

“Uh, back to my apartment?”

“Why?”

“Because I’m tired?” Please don’t make him say it. Todd continued to stare blankly, and yep, looked like he was going to have to say it. “I don’t want to get blood and feathers all over your bed.”

“I don’t care about that.”

“There won’t be room for both of us. I’ll end up smacking you with a wing.”

“You’ve been sleeping in my bed since we got back from Wendimoor, and you already flail at me all the time. I doubt a couple more limbs would make a huge difference. But if you’re worried, I could just take the couch.”

“I’m not making you take the couch. I’ll just head back to my apartment; it’s really no problem.”

“Except you’ll probably injure yourself more if you’re left alone.”

Dirk wanted to protest, but he couldn’t really argue because it  _ was  _ true. “I promise I’ll be careful.”

Todd sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Honestly, you being here helps with my attacks. And I’m pretty sure it helps with your nightmares. So, you can go back to your apartment if you really want, but don’t think you  _ have _ to or that I want you to.”

Dirk hesitated by the door for a moment before nodding slowly and walking towards the bedroom. “Yeah, okay.”

 

* * *

 

Dirk smacked his (thankfully uninjured) wing into the doorway and bit back a curse.

“You don’t have them out much, do you?”

Dirk looked up with a start. Todd flipped another page in his magazine, clearly trying to seem casual and not stare. “How’d you know?”

“Well,” Todd glanced up. “That’s the fifth time that you’ve crashed into something. Today. And it’s only noon.”

Dirk glared at him half-heartedly. Todd just smirked back, tucking his legs up to make more room on the couch. Dirk deflated and gratefully collapsed beside him, left wing stretched out across the room and his right rested on the back of the couch to take weight off the injury. “No, not really. I’m not sure if Blackwing took me at first because they thought I was psychic–”

“An utterly ridiculous idea.”

Dirk fought back a grin. “Or if they were interested in the wings. But either way, they were fascinated by them. I eventually got very good at hiding them. No matter what,” he paused, swallowed, “ _ methods _ they used to try to get me to unfold them.”

Todd was making that slightly constipated face that Dirk was fairly sure meant that he was torn between wanting to punch someone and wanting to comfort Dirk. “And after you escaped the first time, you just kept them hidden?”

Dirk shrugged. “Well, you haven’t exactly seen anyone else wandering around with wings, have you? It was easier to blend in with other people with them folded, and I guess it just became a habit.” Habit and that one other reason he wasn’t sure he was ready to bring up.

“How exactly does that work? Folding them, I mean. They’re not just against your back, because I definitely would have noticed them that time we got electrocuted.”

“An excellent question, Todd!” Dirk grinned. “To be quite honest, the scientists never managed to figure it out. From what I heard them mention, and my own research, my best guess is that some sort advanced physics that humans don’t understand yet is at work. Perhaps there’s some sort of pocket dimension involved, and–” He stopped as he noticed the glazed look in Todd’s eyes. “Really, Todd, why would you ask if you weren’t going to listen to the answer?”

Todd blushed, and, well, that’s  _ something _ . “I was curious, but I didn’t expect you to launch into scientific rambling!”

Dirk sniffed haughtily. “I suppose I shouldn’t have expected so much from you, since you are a college drop-out, after all.”

Todd smacked him in the face with a pillow.

 

* * *

 

“You’re honestly a mess right now.”

“That’s very rude and untrue, Todd.” He paused. “Also, what are you talking about?”

“Your feathers. They’re all disheveled.” Todd rounded the couch to stare down at him disapprovingly. “Haven’t you ever heard of preening?”

“I’m not a  _ bird _ , Todd.”

“No, you just have wings. Like a bird. You’re at least 20% more bird than anyone else I know. Now, what  _ happened? _ ”

“Nothing. This is how they always are.” Dirk fidgeted under his stare for a long, painfully silent 15 seconds. “ _ Fine. _ If you must know, today was the first time I took a shower with them out, and it was a bit more difficult than anticipated.”

Todd sighed. “And you didn’t bother to straighten them out afterwards?”

Dirk tried out his best “I’m an idiot who would be long dead if it weren’t for the universe looking out for me” expression. Maybe if he acted pathetic enough, Todd would let it go.

Todd sighed again, but it was fond this time. “Alright. Stretch them out.”

Dirk blinked. “What?”

“Stretch out your wings. You’re apparently not going to fix your feathers, so I will.”

“Oh no, that’s really not nec–”

“Look.” Todd’s glare wasn’t directed  _ at _ Dirk, but it was still enough to make him snap his mouth shut. “I don’t know what your issue with your wings is. Well, it’s obviously  _ something _ to do with Blackwing. But if you don’t start taking care of your feathers, they’re going to attract parasites or get dry and break, and that’s going to hurt and slow down your healing. And there’s no way I’m letting you fold your wings while they’re injured in any way. So, would you please just stretch out your wings and let me help you?”

Dirk swallowed roughly and silently spread his wings.

Todd stepped closer. He wasn’t touching him yet, but Dirk could feel the warmth radiating from his hands. “This is okay, right? I don’t want to force you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

He didn’t turn to face Todd, as he answered, throat tight, “Yes, it’s fine. Thank you, Todd.”

 

* * *

 

Todd hadn’t even been straightening his feathers for a minute when he made a frustrated noise. “This position isn’t working. And  _ don’t _ say whatever you’re thinking of saying right now.”

Dirk shut his mouth sheepishly.

“Hmm. Oh! Sit on the back of the couch.”

“Wha–”

Todd was apparently feeling extra impatient today, because he didn’t wait for Dirk to finish a single word before grabbing the sides of his waist and lifting him onto the back of the couch. Dirk was exceedingly grateful that Todd couldn’t see how red his face had gotten.

Before the awkward silence could literally kill him, he asked, “So, uh, how do you know so much about taking care of wings?”

Todd’s fingers faltered slightly in their preening. “It’s just common knowledge.”

“Todd, I  _ have _ wings, and I don’t know this stuff. It’s obviously not common knowledge.”

“Well, judging by the situation we’re currently in, the fact that you don’t know this stuff doesn’t mean anything.”

“Except that it clearly isn’t common knowledge.”

“Of course it is.”

“It’s really no– Ow!”

“Sorry.” Dirk could hear the smirk in the jerk’s voice. “That one was broken, so I needed to pull it.”

“Well you could have at least warned me first. But sadistic feather removal aside, you’re not getting out of this question. How do you actually know so much about wing care?”

Todd was silent for a moment, hands moving over to work through the feathers along his radius.

“Todd?”

“I did some research, okay?” He sighed softly. “I figured that if I was going to be the person in charge of looking after your injury, I should probably know what I’m doing.”

Dirk’s blush returned with a vengeance. “Oh,” he squeaked.

“Is that weird?”

“No! No. It’s sweet, really.”

“ _ Sweet? _ ”

Dirk grinned. “Yeah, very sweet. Who knew Todd Brotzman was such a big softie at heart?”

“Lies and slander.” Todd’s fingers continued to comb through his feathers nonetheless. “You take that back.”

“I don’t lie, remember? So, nope,” he popped the ‘p’. “Not taking it back.”

Dirk could almost feel the eye roll being directed at him. “God, you’re so annoying.”

“I am, but you love it.”

Todd’s fingers stilled again for a second, and could he - no. Obviously not.

“Yeah, I do.”

 

* * *

 

Dirk stared up at the ceiling, teeth worrying at his lip. His injured wing was hanging off the bed, stretched across the room, and his left was tucked up against his side to make room for Todd. Speaking of –

Dirk turned his head to glance at Todd, who was laying facing him. His breath was even, and his face looked much calmer and less angry than it did when he was awake, though there still was a slight furrow between his brows.

Dirk stretched his right wing out a bit further. He hated to admit it, but they did feel a lot better after the preening. He sighed and looked back up at the ceiling. The dog watermark stared back at him unhelpfully.

“Todd?” He winced at how loud his whisper sounded.

The silence was suffocating when it fell again. He took a deep breath and risked a quick glance at Todd. He hadn’t moved. Good.

“You’re right that I have an issue with my wings. I don’t want to keep it a secret from you, don’t want to even kind of lie, but I don’t really know how to tell you when you’re awake. The truth is… I hate my wings.” He paused and peeked over to make sure Todd was still asleep. “They’re a constant reminder of Blackwing. I can change my clothes or cut my hair, but these I’m stuck with. They’re even black! I don’t know if Blackwing was named after me or if it’s just some horrible practical joke from the universe. But either way, I  _ hate _ it.”

Dirk froze when he realized how loud his voice had gotten, but a cautious look at Todd showed that he hadn’t woken up. “Sorry for kind of yelling at you in your sleep. If they were just any other color…” He sighed and tugged the blanket up further. “Well, goodnight, Todd.”

He was just on the edge of sleep when he swore he felt fingers card through his feathers.

 

* * *

 

“You’re a dumbass.”

Dirk groaned loudly and dragged the blanket over his head. It was rudely ripped off, and he whined. “What did I do to deserve such a–” his jaw cracked around a maybe-exaggerated yawn – “ _ pleasant _ wake up?”

“I’m glad you appreciate my fantastic wake up skills. Now, get out of bed.” Dirk finally pried open his eyes to stare at him incredulously, and Todd snorted. “I let you sleep in and already make breakfast. See? Pleasant. Now come let me show you how dumb you are so we can eat.”

Dirk frowned but pushed himself to his feet. “I’m not sure I appreciate insults this early in the morning.” He stretched his arms up, wings flaring out. Todd was silent for a long moment, and Dirk gave him a curious look, tugging his shirt back down.

Todd shook his head slightly, cheeks flushed. “It’s like 10:30. That’s barely even morning. Now,” he grabbed Dirk’s wrist to pull him into the living room, “come here.”

Dirk let himself be led into the room and positioned in front of the window. He spread his hands out in a “What now?” gesture.

Todd was staring at him with a strange expression on his face. “Have you ever looked at your wings?”

“Of course. They’re constantly waving around and crashing into things. How could I not have seen them?”

“No, I mean have you  _ looked  _ at them looked at them? Since getting out of Blackwing.”

Dirk twisted the hem of his shirt between his fingers. “No, I haven’t.”

Todd huffed fondly. “Well. Now’s your chance.”

“I’d really rather not.”

“Please? For me?”

Dirk glared because that was  _ low _ , even for him. Todd blinked innocently back. Dirk fought the urge to roll his eyes and spread his wings out. “Great. They look the same as always. Now, you said breakfast was–” The words died in his throat because Todd had grabbed his wing and he was pushing it forward and – Oh.

The air rushed out of his lungs as he watched the way his feathers lit up in the sun, the black changing into bright purples and greens and blues. He managed to tear his eyes away from his wings to look at Todd, who was watching him with a soft smile.

Dirk was moving before he even thought about it. He tucked his wings in slightly and stepped over to Todd, fingers carding into his hair, and then they were kissing. Todd made a muffled noise of surprise, but he kissed back, burying his fingers in Dirk’s feathers. And it was  _ perfect _ .

Todd pulled back (much sooner than Dirk would have liked) and laughed breathlessly. “Wow. If I knew showing you how pretty your wings are would have gotten that reaction, I would have done it much sooner.”

“Well, then we have to make up for lost time,” Dirk said, swaying closer.

Todd laughed again. “Breakfast is getting cold.”

“Hm.” Dirk looked over at the kitchen table. “We can heat it up later. I would much rather go back to kissing now.”

Todd rolled his eyes but grinned as Dirk pulled him into another kiss.


End file.
